Texas Family Physician, Fall 2016 by Texas Academy of Family Physicians

NEWS BRIEF change can be scary and downright unsettling. We are flooded with acronyms such has MACRA, APM, MIPS, PQRS, ACO, PCMH, and more. How can we navigate through uncertainty? By coming together as an Academy and a unified coalition of family physicians, holding true to our values of family medicine patient-centeredness, high quality comprehensive care, true coordination of care, which we have been doing for years, we can be successful in this ever-changing environment. We are the answer to America’s health. Evidence supports we are the solution to ensure a health system that would be more cost effective, and provide higher quality and healthier populations. We will continue through TAFP and AAFP to be at the forefront of these health care delivery discussions to ensure we are paid for all the care we provide for our patients. As president of TAFP, I look forward to advocating for you and being your voice on the broad health care and systems issues that face us in our daily practices. I hope to inspire the future family physicians in our students and residents to excitedly embrace family medicine as the noble and joyous profession it is. I will also seek to work with you and our staff to develop and integrate activities, tools, and resources to support our physicians in preparing for the broad health system changes ahead. We will work to identify and create specific resources and activities to support our physicians in alleviating burnout. I am proud to serve you and be your advocate. I look forward to representing you — all of you — from the Piney Woods of East Texas, to the bustling, fast-growing North Texas, to the oil-rich terrain of West Texas, from the legendary Panhandle to the canyons of Big Bend and to the Rio Grande Valley, from the Gulf Coast metroplexes and its beaches to the beautiful Hill Country and Central Texas. I challenge you to find and remember your “why.” Reflect on those stories that once inspired you and the passions and values that brought you to this remarkable profession and discipline of family medicine. Rediscover the meaning of family medicine to you and the joy it brings. Seek to regularly “be there” for yourself – for your mind, body, and spirit. Be there for your colleagues and know TAFP and I will be there for you. My hope for you is that throughout your day, your week, and the months ahead, you will renew that joy and have that family medicine moment of affirmation where you can declare: “Ta-da!”

Academy delivers new opioid toolkit, CME to equip members By Chris Crawford The AAFP is arming family physicians with the latest resources to best combat the opioid abuse epidemic, which now include a new chronic pain management toolkit and a free CME webcast focused on chronic opioid therapy. These resources are exactly what AAFP President Wanda Filer, MD, MBA, of York, Pa., promised in a Leader Voices blog post from May 2016. “Family physicians are dedicated to being a part of the solution to help slow this national crisis, and the AAFP is dedicated to providing our members the latest information to refresh our knowledge on opioids and pain management,” Filer told AAFP News. “I would encourage us all to review carefully these valuable new members-only resources.”

CHRONIC PAIN MANAGEMENT TOOLKIT » www.aafp.org/patient-care/public-health/pain-opioids/cpm-toolkit.mem.html Because chronic pain is a complex health issue that requires a comprehensive, patient-centered treatment approach, family physicians need appropriate tools to bolster their efforts. The new chronic pain management toolkit fills this need and is designed to help family physicians identify gaps in practice flow, standardize evaluation and treatment of chronic pain patients, and facilitate conversations on pain and treatment goals, as well as identify and mitigate risk. The toolkit includes an action plan, pain inventory, work questionnaire, patient-physician medication agreement, opioid risk tool and links to additional AAFP and external resources for physicians. These tools can be used together or separately, depending on practice need. And everything included in the toolkit is consistent with key recommendations in the CDC and Federation of State Medical Boards guidelines. Additional toolkit resources include links to current opioid guidelines and policies, journal articles and patient education materials. This toolkit is a dynamic resource and will evolve as more resources are added in order to provide the most up-to-date information to Academy members. The content has been reviewed by members, and additional materials have already been suggested to help meet the needs of various practice environments.

CHRONIC OPIOID THERAPY WEBCAST AAFP members have requested more CME on chronic pain management with opioids and the Academy’s latest offering is a CME webcast on chronic opioid therapy that was recorded May 27. The hour-long presentation is available to members only and is worth one AAFP Prescribed credit. David Walsworth, MD, associate chair for clinical affairs and associate professor in the family medicine department at the College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, presents the course, which teaches family physicians how to evaluate patients presenting with chronic nonterminal pain to assess for potential opioid responsiveness and opioid risk. The session also covers how to best develop an evidence-based treatment plan that involves the appropriate selection of an initial opioid, and continuous monitoring and adjustment for tapering, discontinuation, alternative therapies, or referral to a pain subspecialist. In addition, participants will learn how to use state prescription monitoring programs, patient-prescriber agreements, patient counseling documents, and documented urine drug screening to minimize physician liability when prescribing opioids.